“The eighth difficulty is that our own and guest forces are limited in number and hard to sustain long-term,” Zhou Qi said with his hands behind his back as he continued. “At present, wokou in Jiangnan are innumerable. There are major wokou leaders like Wang Zhi and Xu Hai, as well as smaller groups of a hundred or a thousand men. Our forces in Jiangnan, both local and guest troops, are insufficient to cover every front and cannot be maintained indefinitely.”
“Indeed, our troops are too few. Otherwise, how could these mere wokou run rampant…”
Those below murmured in agreement, lamenting the current shortage of troops that left them stretched thin against the wokou.
Zhu Pingan narrowed his eyes. Jiangnan truly lacked sufficient troops, especially since the guard battalions were heavily watered down. Yet the main reason the wokou could not be eradicated was the abysmal fighting quality of the official armies, which were little more than rabble.
“The ninth difficulty is the shortage of provisions, which are hard to gather,” Zhou Qi went on with his Ten Difficulties and Three Policies. “With natural disasters and human calamities, northern barbarians and southern wokou, the state treasury grows ever tighter. Provisions and military pay are hard to sustain and difficult to collect.”
Zhu Pingan nodded along. This point was certainly true. The treasury was increasingly strained, and delayed or withheld pay was becoming more common.
Of course, superior officers also embezzled military funds…
“The tenth difficulty is that generals are arrogant yet cowardly, making them hard to trust.”
As soon as Zhou Qi announced the tenth difficulty, a buzz of surprised exclamations rose from below, especially from the martial officials’ section. No one had expected Zhou Qi to openly criticise the assembled generals in such harsh terms, calling them arrogant and cowardly.
Facing the reaction below, Zhou Qi showed no surprise and continued his criticism of the generals. “Arrogant towards their own side, proud soldiers and fierce generals who disobey orders. Yet cowardly before the wokou, unwilling to fight, incapable of fighting, avoiding battle, fleeing, collapsing at the first touch… Tell me, with such worthlessness, how can anyone trust you?”
The martial officials below were all indignant, yet facing the Governor-General Zhou Qi, they could only endure it.
In the current climate of valuing civil officials over military ones, martial officers held low status. Before civil officials, they were like grandsons, naturally three ranks lower.
The present pattern was: soldiers commanded by generals, yet civil officials handled recruitment and training; generals oversaw formations, yet civil officials allocated supplies; military strategy defended the borders, yet ever more civil officials were placed in advisory roles; border governors and patrol commissioners held responsibility, yet war and defence matters were constantly referred to court.
In short, civil officials ruled military ones.
Thus, despite a thousand grievances in their hearts, the martial generals below could only suffer Zhou Qi’s criticism.
Zhu Pingan strongly agreed with this tenth difficulty summarised by Governor-General Zhou. The guard troops’ dismal combat ability owed much to generals who were too timid and cowardly. Of course, Zhou Qi’s criticism was somewhat too absolute. There were still some generals who performed adequately or even excellently, such as Yu Dayou, Tang Kewan, and Lu Tang.
Yet overall, Zhou Qi’s summary of the ten difficulties of the wokou plague remained superficial. It did not probe deeply or far enough, nor did it get to the root causes.
The sea ban was national policy and could not be rashly criticised, so Zhou Qi’s omission was understandable. However, he mentioned neither the collusion between smuggling merchants and wokou, nor that between traitors and Japanese merchants. He did not touch on the decay of coastal defences, the corruption of officers and troops, or the fact that Japan itself was currently in civil war, along with many other important factors.
“Heh heh, so these are your ten difficulties, Governor-General Zhou. Without commenting on them, what then are your three policies?”
Zhao Wenhua tugged at the corner of his mouth. He claimed not to judge the ten difficulties, yet both his words and expression clearly showed his disdain for them.
“The first policy: build more warships, occupy key points, strike them when they come, raid them when they go.” Zhou Qi swung his arm forcefully, as if his hand were the Ming naval fleet that could destroy all invading wokou ships with one sweep.
Zhu Pingan nodded.
Good. At this time, few commanders truly valued naval power. Zhou Qi’s first policy was well raised.
To drive out the wokou, repelling them on the open sea was absolutely vital. Building more warships, strengthening the navy, crushing the wokou at sea as they crossed over, and crushing them again as they fled back to coastal waters would prevent the wokou plague from arising at all.
Zhou Qi then presented his second policy. “The second policy: gather five hundred sand ships to patrol in rotation at the Suzhou sea entrance, select over ten thousand soldiers to garrison the Songjiang protective dykes. The moment wokou land, strike them decisively and rout them utterly.”
Zhu Pingan listened and narrowed his eyes slightly. This policy still centred on warships. Sand ships were shallow-draught inland vessels. Concentrating five hundred at the Suzhou sea entrance and stationing over ten thousand troops at the Songjiang dykes to attack wokou upon landing…
The wokou were not fools. Once five hundred sand ships were massed at Suzhou and over ten thousand soldiers garrisoned at Songjiang, the wokou would simply avoid the area. The Jiangnan coastline was so long, with countless possible landing sites.
“The third policy: gather five or six hundred light, manoeuvrable warships from Suzhou and Songjiang to cruise and patrol Huangpu, Wusong, Taihu, and other places, so that wokou infantry dare not penetrate deeply and their boats dare not roam freely.” Zhou Qi swiftly presented his third policy.
Still warships?
Those below exchanged glances. Why did Governor-General Zhou’s three policies all feel like the same one, nothing more than building warships, occupying key points, and patrolling key areas…
Was not the second policy of gathering five hundred sand ships for layered patrols at Suzhou and stationing over ten thousand troops at Songjiang also about increasing warships and holding key positions?
And the third policy of gathering five or six hundred light warships from Suzhou and Songjiang to patrol Huangpu, Wusong, Taihu, and elsewhere was essentially the same: more warships and patrols of key areas…
“Lord Zhou, I have a question. I am not sure whether it is proper to raise it.” Zhao Wenhua spoke up with a dry laugh the moment Zhou Qi finished.
Improper indeed! You are simply looking for trouble.
Zhou Qi naturally thought this, yet he could not act on it, or he would appear too intolerant.
“Lord Zhao, speak freely,” Zhou Qi said insincerely.
“Lord Zhou, do you not find your Ten Difficulties and Three Policies somewhat incongruous?” Zhao Wenhua asked slowly, looking at Zhou Qi.
“In what way incongruous?” Zhou Qi frowned.
“Should ten difficulties not correspond to ten policies? Why only three?” Zhao Wenhua gave a dry laugh and asked leisurely.
Zhou Qi had expected Zhao Wenhua to attack a specific difficulty or policy, not to raise this question. After several seconds of silence, he replied slowly, “Policies need not be numerous. If they resolve the difficulties, that suffices.”
“Policies need not be numerous, as long as they resolve the difficulties? Then, Lord Zhou, pray tell how your three policies address ‘the wokou being treacherous and cunning, their schemes hard to discern’, how they address ‘the populace being vulnerable and hard to mobilise’, how they address ‘the wokou being long entrenched and hard to prepare against’, how they address ‘the land being saline and hard to fortify’, how they address ‘the shortage of provisions, hard to gather’, how they address ‘generals being arrogant yet cowardly, hard to trust’…”
Zhao Wenhua gave another dry laugh and launched his attack using Zhou Qi’s own ten difficulties.
All your three policies concern warships and the navy. How do they solve the lack of provisions? How do they solve saline soil?
